Sunday Extra

Jack's farewell

With the most major championships in history, Jack Nicklaus will play his final Grand Slam event, and maybe final competitive tournament, at the birthplace of golf.

By BOB HARIG
Published July 10, 2005

For Jack Nicklaus, it is time to cross that bridge.

He has been threatening to do so for years, saying he will walk into a life void of tournament golf, only to keep returning to the arena that made him famous for winning more major tournaments than any other golfer in history.

This time, Nicklaus, 65, seems as committed to the decision as any he ever made in the game while building an impressive resume of 18 major-championship victories.

So when he walks onto the Swilcan Bridge on the Old Course at St. Andrews for the final time (the storybook ending would have it be July 17 rather than Friday), Nicklaus said it will be his last round of major-championship golf, perhaps tournament golf of any official nature.

And it is only fitting that it come at St. Andrews, the home and birthplace of golf, where Nicklaus won two of his three Open Championships.

"The British Open, particularly in Scotland, is a place where they basically sort of took me as one of theirs from the first time I went over there," Nicklaus said during a recent conference call. "When I won it in '66 at Muirfield, it was a very special thing for me. And when I went to St. Andrews in '70 and I won, it was like a Scot winning. That's sort of the way they treated me.

"And I always loved the British Open anyway. I always loved going over there to play on the different courses, get the break from the heat of our summer. Plan for all the different conditions. And every year, the conditions would be totally different. It would be dry some years, wet some years. Windy some years. I mean, you just have so much variety. And I just love the challenge of it, and the fun of it."

And yet, no major tormented Nicklaus more.

He won it three times, the least of any of the four he captured. And he finished second seven times, the most of any of the four.

For an amazing 18 consecutive years, from 1963 through 1980, Nicklaus never finished worse than 12th at the British Open, and had 17 top 10s and 16 top fives. From 1970 to 1980, Nicklaus was never worse than fifth.

"For some reason, I went to the British Open and every year felt like I was going to win," he said. "Or if I didn't win, I was going to be right there. And I was. I don't know why, but I didn't feel like that here (in the United States). I always felt like ... we're going to play at Pebble Beach or Baltusrol, and maybe I'll be able to do really well there. But we might find someplace else I didn't feel I was going to do as well.

"I felt comfortable with most of the British rota. I like creative golf. You have to create what you want to do, improvise and do all of those kinds of things. And I just thought that was great. I just loved it."

This will be Nicklaus' final British Open because the tournament only invites its past champions until age 65. He said goodbye at the 2000 U.S. Open and 2000 PGA Championship, and insisted his farewell at the Masters in April was his last trip around Augusta National in the tournament.

If so, then the 134th Open Championship that begins Thursday will be Nicklaus' 164th major championship dating to his first U.S. Open in 1957. From the time he turned pro in 1962 through his 1986 Masters victory - where he won his 18th and final major - Nicklaus missed just six cuts in the majors and only one at the British.

And he will leave with many records.

He is first with 18 majors, and all alone with six Masters. He is tied for the most U.S. Opens at four with Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones and Willie Anderson. He is also tied with Walter Hagen for most PGA Championships with five. His three British Opens are tied for 11th.

He is the only player to have won each of the four major championships at least twice.

He holds the record for the longest span between first and last majors, 24 years. He was the third oldest to win a major when he won the '86 Masters at 46. He has the most runnerup finishes in majors (19), the most top-five finishes (56) and the most top-20 finishes (84).

Like many players who idolize him, Nicklaus looked up to Jones. He had heard so much about him growing up in Columbus, Ohio, where Jones won the 1926 U.S. Open at Scioto Country Club. That same year, Jones won the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Anne's, becoming the first player to win them both in the same year. The following year, Jones won again at St. Andrews. "He always said your career is never complete as a great golfer unless you can win at St. Andrews," Nicklaus said.

Nicklaus first went to Scotland in 1959 for the Walker Cup matches at Muirfield. Just 19 at the time, Nicklaus' father, Charlie, and a few friends made the trip and ventured over to St. Andrews. They hated it.

"Told me what a horrible place it was, the worst golf course they had ever seen," Nicklaus said. "You can't make any putts on the greens. I found out they all three-putted 13 or 14 greens and just had a horrible time.

"So when I went there for the first time in '64, I wasn't expecting anything. The first time I went around the golf course, I said, "Man, this place is great.' I loved it. And it was so different than anything I had ever played and it had stood the test of time with golfers for years and years. Never really has changed."

Nicklaus finished second to Tony Lema that year. When the Open returned in 1970 to St. Andrews, Nicklaus needed some good fortune. Doug Sanders missed a 3-foot par putt on the 72nd green that would have won. Nicklaus defeated him the next day in an 18-hole playoff.

Nicklaus won again at St. Andrews in 1978, shooting a final-round 69 to edge Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Tom Kite and Simon Owen by two strokes.

Nicklaus returned to St. Andrews in 1984 (he tied for 31st), 1990 (tied 63rd) and 1995 (tied 79th). When he missed the cut in 2000, he expected that to be his last British Open.

But the Royal & Ancient Golf Clubs, after originally slotting St. Andrews for the 2006 Open, moved it up to this year, giving Nicklaus one last go around the Old Course.

The only question remaining is if he'll make his final wave from the Swilcan Bridge on Friday or Sunday.

[Last modified July 9, 2005, 23:35:17]